Table 2.

Numbers of unique and common k-mers in the genome of E. coli assessed pairwise with the genomes of P. copri and R. rubrum.

Type of sequences	k = 16	k = 18	k = 20	k = 22
Number of E. coli unique k-mers
Absent in P. copri	8,960,945	9,023,619	9,032,272	9,035,542
Absent in R. rubrum	8,931,481	9,018,843	9,030,542	9,034,516
Number of k-mers present in the genomes of E. coli and competing bacteria
Overlap with P. copri	28,748	2,854	676	376
Overlap with R. rubrum	53,512	6,942	2,298	1,360
Number of k-mers present in all the three genomes
Present in E. coli, P. copri, R. rubrum	778	366	286	222